Opera Scotland

Boris Godunov 1965Scottish Opera

The new large-scale chorus-dominated opera production for 1965 was Scottish Opera's first attempt at one of the great Russian works which was receiving its first Scottish outing in half a century. The new edition had been prepared by David Lloyd-Jones, and was an attempt to return to the composer's original ideas, without the Polish act that was added later. As with Otello in the previous two seasons, a sensible decision was taken to save costs by borrowing the excellent period costumes from the Covent Garden production.

The performance, dramatically conducted by Gibson, was dominated by David Ward's moving interpretation of the title role. Pimen was sung by Norman Lumsden, whose career went back to the early performances with the English Opera Group of The Rape of Lucretia and Albert Herring. This season also saw the first of many visits by Francis Egerton and Donald McIntyre.

For the first time, the company ventured beyond the central belt, by playing a week in Aberdeen. With this expansion of the company's activities it was therefore particularly unfortunate that the excellent theatre in Dundee, available for touring companies until as recently as 1961, had been converted to wide-screen cinema, and no longer had a stage or proscenium.

In addition to Boris Godunov, the season included a new production, the company's second, of Madama Butterfly. There was also a revival of the previous season's Don Giovanni, in which the future Dame Margaret Price made her only company appearance.